Getting Ready for Election Night

Preparing for a national election begins months in advance of the actual voting, in some cases well into the year preceding the election. AP's election research team managed by Don Rehill, gathers a variety of data ranging from the relatively straightforward, like poll-closing times, to the more complex, like voting equipment in use from county to county, to laws and procedures from state to state on absentee and early voting, to voter registration and certification of candidates. Much of the information assembled by the researchers, including Adrienne Bell, Cliff Maceda, Lauren Johnert, Christina Bryant, Oliver Chase and Alma Rodriguez, goes into AP's pre-election database maintained by Shafik Shamji. Bureau chiefs and AP news managers have access to the data, and are trained on its accessibility and many uses. Frequently information compiled by the researchers is used in stories and graphics, and the team is always available to help reporters, editors and artists in their work. A good portion of the data, like voter registration and past voting history, is used to assure the accuracy of returns on election night.

Members of the research team don "Quality Control" hats on election nights, using their experience and familiarity with election data to watch returns as they come into the AP system. Many times during the night a QC analyst will message a bureau chief and election coordinator: "You have more votes from Jefferson County in the state treasurer's race than you do for president. It doesn't look right." It may in the end be correct, but that type of inconsistency often suggests a mistake in vote entry, or frequently in the reporting of returns by a county clerk.

With voting complete and all races called, the researchers begin to compile certified returns from every state, by county, which will become a part of the database that will help in coverage of the next election.



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